Flashback to 1979 - A Timeline of Life in America

[Music] the final year of the 1970s was full of major news stories that would have consequences for the next few years long lines and skyrocketing inflation was settling in and tensions in the middle east would set the stage for a change in the political direction of the united states 1979 was memorable for many reasons including many popular culture firsts from new television channels to new ways to listen to music [Music] on january 13th the ymca filed a libel suit against the village people's ymca song which was released the year before the ymca claimed the song was defaming because of the lyrics and the fact that the village people sprang up in new york's gay disco culture the lawsuit would later be dropped on january 26th the dukes of hazzard premiered on cbs the tv comedy about two good old boy cousins in the south and their orange 1969 dodge charger called the general lee was all about car chases and stunts centered on the duke boys trying to outrun boss hogg and bumbling sheriff roscoe p coltrane the show was also popular because of another character named daisy duke [Music] february 13th brought us the introduction of the guardian angels crime fighters in new york city founder curtis sliwa a night manager at mcdonald's envisioned a band of unarmed citizen patrollers who would witness and help prevent crime during a desperate crime wave in the city on february 20th the pbs television series this old house premiered the home improvement show was the first of its kind and made stars of its hosts bob vila and norm abram on march 28th the worst accident in the history of the united states nuclear power industry began at the three mile island plant in pennsylvania the partial meltdown of the reactor caused radioactive material to be released through contaminated water at the height of the crisis plant workers were exposed but no one outside three mile island was affected by the accident nonetheless the incident greatly eroded the public's faith in nuclear power april first brought us the debut of nickelodeon a new cable television channel the network was the first to air children's television shows 24 hours a day the show pinwheel was one of the first shows to be broadcast on the channel on may 21st dan white was convicted of the voluntary manslaughter of san francisco mayor george moscone and openly gay councillor harvey milk the conviction on a lesser charge outraged the gay community and led to the white knight riots that evening on may 25th american airlines flight 191 taking off from o'hare international airport in chicago crashed killing 271 people on board and two people on the ground following takeoff the left engine detached from the plane and caused a loss in control of the aircraft prior to crashing less than a mile from the end of the runway it is the deadliest aviation accident to ever have occurred in the united states also on may 25th alien directed by ridley scott and starring sigourney weaver was released in theaters the film got a spectacular hollywood premiere at the famous egyptian theater in hollywood with props and set pieces that immersed moviegoers into deep space on july 1st sony introduced the walkman the first popular portable cassette player sony used a grassroots marketing campaign to get young people interested in the product by giving it to people to use on busy trains they even gave the product to celebrities so they could be seen using it on july 2nd the us mint officially released the susan b anthony coin the suffragette became the first woman to be honored by having her image appear on a circulating coin in the united states on july 15th president jimmy carter addressed the nation on live television to discuss the nation's energy crisis unemployment inflation and the accompanying recession the speech discussed a crisis of confidence and would come to be known as the malaise speech [Music] on august 10th off the wall the fifth studio album by michael jackson was released the billboard album of the year in 1980 was the first produced by quincy jones and it sold seven million copies in the united states alone making it a seven times platinum album on august 15th apocalypse now directed by francis ford coppola was released in theaters the vietnam war movie followed captain benjamin willard played by martin sheen on a river journey from south vietnam into cambodia to undertake a secret mission to assassinate an insane renegade colonel played by marlon brando october 9th introduced radio shock jock howard stern to a large radio audience in hartford connecticut stern began broadcasting on wccc after he responded to a job ad for a zany morning guy [Music] on october 12th boston celtics guard chris ford scored the first three-point basket in nba history the shot took place during the first quarter of the game against the houston rockets at boston garden the game also marked the debut of a boston rookie named larry bird on the very same night forward magic johnson made his debut for the los angeles lakers in a game against the san diego clippers november 4th was the day that the iran hostage crisis began 3 000 iranian radicals which were mostly students invaded the u.s embassy in tehran and took 90 hostages including 53 americans the iranian revolutionaries demanded that the united states send the former shah of iran back to stand trial on november 13th ronald reagan announced his candidacy for president in new york city this would mark the beginning of a new era in politics dubbed the reagan revolution as his relaxed and calm presence along with his policies of less government overreach would go on to boost the morale of the country [Music] on december 3rd during the who concert at the riverside coliseum in cincinnati 11 members of the audience were trampled to death during a stampede to claim unreserved seats the concert would go on as planned with the band members not told of the tragedy until after performing to wrap up the year on december 19th the movie kramer vs kramer directed by robert benton was released the film starred dustin hoffman who is a work-obsessed ad exec who is forced to learn long neglected parenting skills after his wife leaves him and then a heated custody battle ensues the legal drama that also starred meryl streep would go on to be awarded the academy award for best picture the following year

Channel: Recollection Road

Views: 162,842

Keywords: Recollection Road, nostalgia, memories, photos, history, closed, forgotten, business, past, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, memory, yesteryear, golden age, photo album, oldies, fifties, sixties, 20th century, 1979, daisy duke, dukes of hazard, susan b anthony, ymca, this old house, alien, kramer vs kramer, nickelodeon, sony walkman, three mile island, jimmy carter, off the wall, michael jackson, apocalypse now, howard stern, magic johnson, larry bird, ronald reagan, iran hostage

Id: oagbpuy8Irw

Length: 8min 9sec (489 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 15 2021